Since Covid-19, remote work has become a norm, and many employers allow their employees the option to work from home and more people are choosing this option. Many thrive in even just a hybrid setup, outperforming expectations to deliver outstanding results. However, while working from home can offer many benefits; many do struggle to work effectively outside of the office environment.
This does give managers their own sets of challenges. Not surprisingly, managers tend to focus on the underperformers and end up developing a mistrust of general productivity outside of the office. Managers start to lose the confidence in the work from home culture.
Employee Personality and Hybrid Work/Work from Home
Personality traits are important when it comes to working from home, and these can include independence, self-discipline, and adaptability. They must be very efficient in time management and stay motivated without direction and supervision. Being able to adapt is also important, such as different working hours or changing deadlines.
Those who are extroverts perform less when working from home rather than at the office, as their personalities are more sociable, outgoing, talkative, assertive and they get energized by others. They then tend to experience social isolation and it can start to show in their work performance.
Emotional stability also shows higher performance outside the office, as they are calmer, even-tempered, more resilient to stress, and less prone to negative emotions, such as anxiety, anger and depression. So time spent working remotely requires staff members to work more on their emotional self-regulation as they have less emotional support available from managers and team mates.
Independence
One of the most important characteristics of remote workers is independence. You are without constant supervision and direction. You must be able to manage your own workload and fit in the required deadlines, and to be able to do all this with distractions around you. You need to be able to make decisions without guidance. This requires a lot of self-confidence and self-reliance.
Adaptable
Remote workers also need to be able to adapt fairly quickly. They must be able to cope with changes in the working environment, such as time zones and communication channels. You must be able to communicate with colleagues from all over and this requires a high level of emotional intelligence and the ability to build relationships.
Conclusion
There are many factors involving remote work, but despite everything, managers still feel suspicious of employees working from home. They are not necessarily wrong in feeling this way as some workers will perform less than others. Although a majority perform better at home, managers pay more attention to the low performers. Ultimately, being able to work from home depends on your personality, and how much you are willing to give. For guidance, contact Laurian Ward.
